Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, and so on. These networks, which are usually multiple access networks, support communications for multiple users by sharing the available network resources. One example of such a network is the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). The UTRAN is the radio access network (RAN) defined as a part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a third generation (3G) mobile phone technology supported by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). UMTS, which is the successor to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technologies, currently supports various air interface standards, such as Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA), Time Division-Code Division Multiple Access (TD-CDMA), and Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA). UMTS also supports enhanced 3G data communications protocols, such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), which provides higher data transfer speeds and capacity to associated UMTS networks.
In a UMTS network, the UTRAN may control a user equipment (UE) to perform different measurements and report the results back to the UTRAN. One type of these measurements is UE internal measurements such as UE transmission power and UE received signal level measurements. For example, the UE can monitor its transmission (Tx) power and trigger an Event 6D report when its Tx power reaches a maximum value. More detail on the Event 6D report can be found in a document 3GPP TS 12.533 section 14.6.2.4 version 11.9.0 (Release 11), the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference. The Event 6D report allows the network to recognize which UEs are operating at their maximum Tx power such that the network may plan the uplink (UL) traffic of the UEs in a more efficient manner.